Cry
by Maidenstear
Summary: Sasuke's returned. Everything will be normal again...right?


Aneko: Yay!! I'm somewhat proud of this fiction, so I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Cry

Sakura walked steadily towards the prison cell, the water swishing around in the bowl she held. She approached one of the ANBU standing around the perimeter and spoke softly.

"Tsunade-sensei told me that I was s to come and treat the prisoner."

She spoke unhesitatingly, but inside she was trembling-with what, she couldn't tell. She remembered when Tsunade-sensei had told her the news.

_

* * *

_

"Tsunade-sensei, did you call me? I thought you said we weren't going to train today. And what's Naruto doing here?" Sakura asked, confused. There was a growing feeling of expectancy in her stomach.

_Tsunade and Naruto shared a look, and that feeling grew stronger._

"_Sakura…he's back," Naruto spoke, watching Sakura carefully for a reaction._

_Sakura dropped the papers she had been holding. They scattered everywhere, but she paid no attention.. She knew exactly who they were talking about._

"_Tsunade-sensei, please…may I go see him?" Sakura asked quietly. Her head was down, her face hidden._

"_Sakura, he was-is- a missing-nin. He's in the prison, guarded by ANBU. No one is supposed to go in there," Tsunade spoke firmly, but not unkindly._

"_Please…" Sakura's voice nearly broke._

_Tsunade watched her apprentice a moment, before sighing._

"_I guess we can say I sent you to treat his wounds or something."_

_Sakura raised grateful eyes to her, before turning and nearly running from the room._

* * *

The ANBU guard nodded silently and unlocked the door for her.

Sakura took a deep breath, before entering the cell, raising her eyes to see what lay inside.

She had prepared herself, but when she looked she found she almost forgot how to breathe.

Though he was covered in numerous wounds, his face was unmarred and just as beautiful as she remembered. Onyx eyes gazed out from beneath finely arched, aristocratic eyebrows. Raven bangs framed a pale face.

Hearing the door close behind her, Sakura began to walk towards him. The structure of the room was rather odd. The whole room was made of stone, with no other luxury but for one wall which wasn't there at all, leaving it to open air, which seemed the only source of light, giving the area a gray half-light. Sakura could sense very strong chakra, so she guessed that, while it looked open, it was really blocked by a thick force field of chakra.

Outside, dark and angry clouds hung low in the sky, rumbling dangerously.

Sakura stopped a few feet away, finally speaking the name og the person who had left her on a cold park bench so long ago.

"Sasuke…" he voice was no more than a murmur, but he heard and looked at her.

He looked up, chains rustling as he did. He was chained, standing, to the wall, his arms pulled away from his body, his wrists where the chains had been attached.

He was no longer wearing the outfit he had worn when learning under Orochimaru, much to her relief (she thought of the Snake whenever she saw it). Instead, he wore all black, with a sash to keep the shirt closed, which was slightly open, but not as much as his old one.

"Sakura."

His voice was empty, void. Like his eyes. He made her name a statement.

The rain began to patter down, as Sakura walked up to Sasuke. Setting down the bowl that she held, Sakura dipped a cloth in the warm water, lifting it up to wash all the dried blood off of Sasuke's body. His wounds had long since stopped bleeding, but Sakura knew that they probably still pained him.

When Sakura finished with this, she reached up to his face. He was a good head taller than her now. As she reached up she leaned closer to him, slowly and gently washing all traces of blood off of his face. As she did so, Sasuke's expression remained blank.

_He is a statue_, Sakura thought sadly. _He is a statue without feeling, and nothing I do can change that._

When she was finished, Sakura gathered chakra in her hands and started healing him. She started with several of the larger wounds. One was on his right arm, near his shoulder. As she watched it heal, she couldn't help but speak.

"Did you get these from fighting Itachi or Naruto, Sasuke?"

If Sasuke had not been chained up, he would have shrugged; but since he couldn't he had to settle for talking. How unimaginable.

"Probably both."

'"What, didn't you rest at _all_ after you fought Itachi?" Sakura's voice became a little reprimanding, but remained quiet as she began healing another spot.

"Not really."

Sakura couldn't help letting out a little laugh.

'Well no wonder Naruto beat you! How can you expect to win any fights if you walk around half-dead?"

She thought she felt Sasuke stiffen a bit at her comment, but it may have been her imagination.

"Sakura, you do realize you are taking care of the enemy, right?"

He was saying it for a topic change, she knew, but it also meant he was asking her a question.

"So?"

"_So_, if I escaped and destroyed the village, it could partly be your fault for healing me." She thought she could hear a smirk in his voice.

Sakura stopped and looked Sasuke in the eye.

"Sasuke, I have never thought of you as an enemy," Sakura said honestly. She would get nowhere by mincing her words.

Was that- surprise? In his eyes? No, it couldn't be.

Sakura ignored it if it was, bringing up a hand to cover Sasuke's eyes.

"What are you doing?" His voice was still blank, his facial expression unchanging.

"Taking some of the pain away. I can't totally heal your eyes, because that's beyond the reach of any medic, but I can ease the pain some."

They stood in silence for a while. Sakura was going slowly on his eyes, because se was afraid that if she went fast she would damage them more. She was also thinking, and she was about to tell Sasuke something he might not want to hear.

"Sasuke…I heard the truth about your brother…"

It was true. Itachi had told Naruto something strange before he went to face Sasuke. Naruto told Tsunade, who in turn went to the council of elders. The two who knew told the whole story, and that was how Sakura had learned.

There was no reply. Sakura was about to say something, but then she felt something moist on the hand over Sasuke's eyes. Moving her hand, Sakura saw a sight that she had never seen, and it made her heart hurt unbearably.

Tears rolled silently down Sasuke's face, and his eyes stared sightlessly at the floor. He did not cry out, and his expression did not change, but the tears continued to fall. And the worst part was that Sakura could do nothing about those tears.

Slowly, Sakura brought both hands to rest on each side of Sasuke's face. He didn't even flinch, and the tears continued to fall, some on Sakura's hand. He was a statue, yet he was crying. It was almost more than she could bear.

Sakura felt her own tears well up in response. Because she knew a part of him had been broken that could not be fixed. And all she could do was stand there in front of him and watch him cry.

"Oh, Sasuke," she whispered sadly.

Standing on her tip toes, Sakura leaned forward, letting her forehead rest on his. She closed her eyes, letting her tears fall, just like his.

He said nothing, not a word of protest or annoyance. It made Sakura realized again just how much he had changed. He had suffered so much that he just didn't care anymore. More tears fell from Sakura's eyes as she thought this. She was afraid that the one she had come to love was gone forever. His body was here, but his spirit, his soul- it was far away from her, and she didn't know how to bring it back.

They stood there for an immeasurable amount of time in silence, the rain outside coming down steadily, lightning occasionally lighting up the dreary cell. As Sakura felt her tears slow and finally stop, she opened her eyes to look at Sasuke. His tears had stopped too, and his eyes were closed, but as Sakura looked up at him, his eyes opened in response, and he looked back at her.

Sakura's breath caught in her throat, and she nearly started crying again, this time in joy.

Life. Life had come back to Sasuke's eyes. There was still pain there, and it was hard to tell if it would ever disappear completely- even she and Naruto had some pain that might never go away- but the dullness was gone. Sasuke- the Sasuke _she_ knew, the Sasuke Naruto knew- was back.

The old Sasuke was still not talkative, and not very emotional, but it was the Sasuke she knew and cared for, and so she was content.

Sakura moved her hands behind her back and smiled a smile that lit up her face.

"Welcome back, Sasuke."

"Hn," he said (so typically) and smirked.

She was at a loss at how he was able to sound arrogant while chained to a wall, but he managed.

Sasuke turned his head to the right, looking out at the rain. As he did so, his shirt moved and Sakura gasped.

"Sasuke!"

"…What?" He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes.

"The curse mark! It's…!"

"…Yeah…Itachi…" Sasuke murmured, looking outside again.

Unable to hold back, Sakura hugged Sasuke hard.

"I'm so glad!" She whispered.

All she could think of was the Forest of Death, when he had been in so much pain and Sasuke's crazed eyes as the black marks spread over his body like a disease. Now the cause of all of that was gone.

Sakura thought she heard Sasuke murmur, "Hn. Annoying," above her. It made her smile into his shirt, because while he had called her annoying, it meant that he was paying attention to her.

"Have you seen Naruto? I mean, since he dragged you here unconscious?" She couldn't help but add the last part.

She loved Sasuke, but knew that he never would have come home unless Naruto had beaten him senseless. So the fact that Naruto had been successful had put her in a very high good mood.

"No."

That question had definitely annoyed him. She could tell from his voice alone (how much even_ that_ had changed). It felt good to hear his voice-_his_ voice. The one that held emotion (or at least some of it).

She laughed, a little giggle, perhaps just for the sake of it.

"I'll make sure to tell him he can come visit."

Sasuke gave her an 'are-you-trying-to-torture-me?' look. Sakura laughed again, before her eyes turned serious.

"He really missed you, you know. We all did; but Naruto took it really hard. When he couldn't bring you back the first time, I went to see him in the hospital. The look on his face…it was so hopeless; but when he saw me he tried to act like it didn't hurt…but inside…inside, I think he was screaming."

Sakura looked out at the rain.

"…When he got out of the hospital, he started working so hard. It was all for you, though. It's as if he just put all his dreams of becoming Hokage on hold to follow you. I talked to him about it once. He told me, "If I can't stop my best friend from leaving, how can I even _think_ about becoming Hokage?" I think it's the most serious I've ever seen him."

Sasuke had not spoken, but Sakura knew him well enough to know he was listening.

"Hn. Idiot."

Hearing those words, something in Sakura broke.

"Just why is he an idiot Sasuke?" She asked angrily, "Because he trained so hard for you? Because he cared enough in the first place o try to bring you back? Because he kept trying, even though all you ever did was push him away?" As she spoke, Sakura realized she wasn't sure if she was talking about Naruto…or herself.

"Sakura," he looked at her, quieting her flow of words, "I know."

Looking into his eyes, Sakura believed him. His eyes held regret, and was that sadness in those onyx orbs?

"I know. While we fought…he never stopped talking. Hn…that loser."

Sakura realized that he was calling Naruto an idiot because he didn't know what else to say.

"Well…Naruto is Naruto," Sakura stated, and that was enough said.

Finally Sakura picked the bowl up from the floor.

"I have to go and tell Tsunade-sensei your condition now. I'll bring Naruto by later."

"Hn."

Sakura smiled at the customary response, walking to the door.

She turned to look at him again before leaving. His head was down and his eyes were closed. He looked almost like he had _chosen_ to be chained to the wall.

Those tears had melted the ice, Sakura realized. Melted the ice that had locked away Sasuke's heart and returned him to who he used to be.

The ANBU closed the door, and her view of Sasuke was cut off. Sakura began walking back to Tsunade's office. Who knew what tomorrow would bring, but from now on, Team 7 was together again, and for Sakura, that was all that mattered.


End file.
